Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates

Spring Training for the 2015 Major League Baseball season is upon us! So even if you're still sitting under a blanket of snow, you know that relief is on the way.
To help you get warmed up and to take an excuse to look at some great vintage sports ephemera, here's a hand-picked gallery slideshow of some of my favorite Spring Training program and scorecard art from teams like the Dodgers, Red Sox, Angels, and Pirates. All of these and more are available for perusal at The Press Room, and clicking on any image will take you to its own page.

You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest baseball teams ever... OK, sorry about that. I have Kiss on the brain for some reason. Back to baseball.
Last week I published my first annual list of the ten worst franchises in Major League history, so if you haven't read that yet now's a good time. Either way, it's time to look at the teams that set the standard for all other baseball clubs to follow. Or that are, in the case of a few, still basking in past glories. To see my rankings for other leagues, as well as all mysports lists, check out this page.
Before I get to the list, a few notes of explanation are needed.
Rankings are based on average points per season, not total points.
For the few franchises whose history stretches back to the 19th century (Braves, Cardina

The last edition of this post ran in October 2012. Given that the two teams in the World Series this year aren't on the list, I feel pretty safe running it now.
The 2013 Major League Baseball season is down to its last series, and so I turn my attention once again to the unlucky ten -- the franchises that currently hold the longest streaks in baseball for years gone by without a World Series championship. Some of these teams have at least managed to reach the summit of the Major Leagues, while others have a sad empty spot in their trophy cases.
Season totals are current through the end of the 2013 MLB season. For more fun and informative sporting lists, check out this handy dandy index page.
#10 -- Kansas City Royals (28 seasons)
Few teams have fared more poorly in the 21st cen...

There's a lot to love about this Post Sugar Crisp ad from 1955, not the least of which are the classic '50s bear mascots:
But what drew my eye was the gaggle of vintage baseball logos on the bottom. They're actually MLB patches Post gave away with the cereal, and the legendary Ted Williams gives his smiling approval.
Here's a closeup view of the logos, featuring the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Redlegs, New York Yankees, New York Giants, Milwaukee Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators/Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago Cubs. That's every MLB franchise from '55 except for the Kansas City Athletics.
(click for a larger version)

Opening Day of the 2013 Major League Baseball season is just a few weeks away, so I'll depart from my usual fare and try to bust out some hardball pics between now and then (as I did last year with this gallery of baseball clubs from the late 19th to early 20th centuries). Here's a neat one via the old Acme Newsphotos company. It shows members of the 1934 Pittsburgh Pirates squad lighting a fire with their baseball bats. The original caption was "Heavy Hitters of the Pirates."
From left to right are Charles "Red" Lucas, Gus Suhr, Larry French, Harold "Pie" Traynor, Freddie Lindstrom, Paul Waner, and Lloyd Waner. Despite a lineup featuring six future Hall of Famers (all of whom but Burleigh Grimes are shown here) the '34 Pirates finished two games under .500, good for 5th place in th...

Fredi González, Atlanta Braves -- González played for six years in the minors, and made it as far as the AA level. This is Fredi in 1983 as a member of the Greensboro Hornets, the New York Yankees AA affiliate in North Carolina.
Ozzie Guillén, Miami Marlins -- Guillen enjoyed a long and productive Major League career, including 13 seasons with the Chicago White Sox (1985 - 1997). He was the American League Rookie of the Year for 1985, won a Gold Glove in 1990, and was a three-time All-Star.
Terry Collins, New York Mets -- I wasn't able to find any cards from Collins' days as a minor league ballplayer, so here's a card from his early coaching days with the AAA Albuquerque Dukes. Collins managed a .255 batting average for his playing career, which never advanced to the Majo

With the 2012 Major League Baseball season nearly upon us, now is as good a time as any to obsess once again on one of my favorite topics — logos. So I’m going to offer up my choices for the best and worst team baseball logos for all 30 current MLB franchises. Primary, alternate, and cap logos listed on Chris Creamer’s outstanding logo website are all under consideration. Today I look at the six squads of the National League’s Central division.
(Other recaps — AL West, NL West, AL Central)
Chicago Cubs
Best
This is the only Cubs logo I've ever known, and I assumed it always looked like this. Alas, this particular variant of the primary design introduced in 1937 has only been in use since 1979. Still, seems kind of timeless, no?
Worst
It had been not quite 20 years since the